


Three Days

by JennaGill



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Pokemon GO References, everlark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-15 01:31:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8036980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaGill/pseuds/JennaGill
Summary: Katniss finds unexpected perks in a new city for three days, namely her ex-boyfriend Peeta Mellark and Pokemon Go. Originally written for the D12Drabbles prompt: Suitcase.





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this idea came along while traveling out of state (with my own suitcase) and wouldn’t go away. Good thing @d12drabbles used this prompt, or else it would still be sitting in my drafts. Thanks to @d12drabbles for organizing this weekly challenge. Warm, velvety hugs also go to @papofglencoe for encouraging this piece and fixing my horrendous mistakes. I shudder when I click through to resolve them. Disclaimer: I don’t own the Huger Games or Pokemon Go. I just put them together for three days because why not.

_Three days. You can do this Katniss. Three days sitting in this stuffy conference room with the air-conditioning set to arctic blast when you could be outside, exploring this new city._

She flew in yesterday afternoon, taking some time to familiarize herself with the downtown layout so she wasn’t checking her map every ten minutes like a tourist. She admired historic buildings, found solace in the green spaces, and enjoyed an open air cafe for dinner. The temperatures aren’t as high and the humidity is lower here, so it’s possible to be outdoors and not suffer.

She wraps her favorite cardigan around herself a little tighter to ward off the chill. It was Cinna’s one concession when he helped her pack business casual attire for three days with coordinating pieces for after-hours socializing. Cinna wanted her to pack dresses, skirts, and blazers, but she wanted to have a few a few of her favorite wardrobe elements in her suitcase. She negotiated for pants and blouses instead with her stylish neighbor, not feeling the pretty little-girl dresses he first selected.

She volunteered to attend this three-day seminar, knowing that her other coworkers wouldn’t be able to spare the time away from their families. The seminar was free, but registration was quite the ordeal. Her coworkers joked that it was akin to getting tickets to Beyoncé. It’s valuable information though, especially in a time when her company is diversifying their services. Absorbing all that she can in the next three days will help expand her institutional knowledge to better serve her clients. They would still need to partner with an engineering or construction firm to complete a project, cradle-to-grave, but she can definitely return to the office with the tools to manage upfront work. So far the material has been introductory, as it should be in the first hours of Day 1.

When she feels her eyes glaze over, she returns her attention to the thick binder in front of her. Her provided name tag hangs from a lanyard around her neck, reminding her of a song her dad used to sing. Her name plate sits in front of her binder, announcing herself to the rest of the room. She straightens the placard and tries to focus on the material displayed on the screens. Stifling a yawn, she leafs through the booklet and handouts. She scans the itinerary for a sense of course pacing. Day 1 and the first half of Day 2 will walk the crowd through permit types, applications, and reports. After that, the course instructors will explain construction, step by step. _Should be thrilling_. Her eyes land on the attendees list.

She startles when her eyes land on an unexpected name.

**Peeta Mellark**

**D12 Engineering**

**[pmellark@d12.com](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=mailto%3Apmellark%40d12.com&t=ZTViZWU1YmMxYjZmOTY0MTg3MGY4MDU3YmE5ZTQ3OWQ4MDNlNzg1YSxyWXFWVlp1ZA%3D%3D) **

_Oh no. Not him._ She twitches to contain the vise grip on her heart and explosion of butterflies in her belly. She curses herself for not noticing his name among the badges earlier at the check in desk. After a few years she had stopped looking for her college boyfriend’s name everywhere she went. Now she keeps her eyes glued ahead to keep her from whipping around to locate him. _Maybe he’s not here. Maybe he is_. She’s torn between wanting to find his warm blue eyes seeking hers and not at the same time.

They parted years prior, just before graduation. Their year-long relationship had become too big, taking up too much of her life, and clouding her future. Peeta Mellark had seeped into every aspect of her life and she couldn’t handle it among her other responsibilities anymore.  

The instructors announce a ten minute break to the classroom, breaking her out of her reverie. She forces herself to rise and turn around, in an effort not to be obvious in her flight or fright in seeking him out. Her eyes roam the room, willing to not see his ashy blond waves and deep blue eyes among the sea of faces. But the odds are not in her favor today. She spots him in the crowd a few rows back and on the left—his hair his shorter than the last time she saw it. Her breath is stolen from her lungs, and she grapples her chair to remain upright. He raises his left hand in an awkward wave once their eyes lock on one another. She panics and pivots to face her neighbor, inviting him to lunch so she’ll have predetermined plans. Haymitch encouraged her to network anyway.

She turns back around to see if he’s any closer to her by now. He’s approaching the end of her row, effectively blocking her exit. She takes a deep breath to brace for the impact of his voice, missing from her ears for over four years.

“Hello. I thought that might be you,” he says once she navigates to him.

“Um, hi,” she manages through a deep blush. Her first instinct is to grasp the end of her braid.

His eyes follow her movements. “I didn’t know you were in this line of work,” he says as he step out of the way, allowing her egress to the exit.

As she slides past him, she’s hit with his intoxicating scent that she’s missed over time. She nods to the hotel lobby through the doors, directing them out of the makeshift classroom. “Um, yeah. We’re trying to diversify, so everyone thought it would be good for me to attend this. What about you? Did you change fields?”

“No, still construction—just facilities instead of buildings these days,” he shrugs. “Are you free for lunch?”

She looks over her shoulder to find the restrooms, desperate to escape this awkward conversation. “Ah, I’m going to lunch with the guy sitting next to me, but maybe later?” She catches the disappointment and maybe a hint of relief fly across his features. _Maybe he needs more time before we’re alone too_.

He claws at the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. There’s plenty of good places downtown. I can suggest a few places for lunch drinks and dinner,” he offers.

Her eyes are momentarily transfixed by his hands and she notices a lack of any telltale jewelry on the third finger of his left hand. “Oh, have you been here before?” she asks.

He furrows his brow at her for just a moment before relaxing his features. “Katniss, I live here. I took that job and was transferred here about two years ago,” he says.

“Oh. Well, okay, then maybe a drink later? After class lets out?” she suggests, happy to deflect until later. She’s going to need a drink to sit across the table from him.

“Ah yeah, sounds good. I’ll think of a place you’ll like,” he says.

“Oh, okay, thanks. Well…I’ll catch you later. I’m going to run to the ladies room before we have to start again,” she mumbles before walking away. _Always running_. The blush on her face she catches in the mirror is an alarming shade of crimson.

Lunch with Cato Hackerman turns out to be positively fucking awful, but his love for the sound of his own voice gives her plenty of time to think. She’s surprised that Peeta moved so far away from home, but at the same not. She did the same thing, after all.

When they return to the conference room after lunch, their first group activity is laid out on the tables. She’s thankful that she is still sitting far away enough from Peeta not to be ensnared in his trap of warm smiles and soft eyes.

As class shifts back into lecture mode, her neck prickles in the spot where he left a substantial hickey years ago. She wore itchy turtleneck sweaters to cover it up back then, but she swears that she can still feel his lips latched to her throat. She fidgets with her braid to burn off the extra energy coursing through her body.

She meets Peeta for a drink, which turns into drinks, plural. Then that spills into dinner. She likes the place he picked for her. She’s pleased to learn that he’s single. She tells him about her sightseeing yesterday.

“And then I found this great park that had two lures going,” she exclaims, flushing with her slip.

“Wait. _Lures_? Katniss Everdeen, are you playing Pokémon Go?” he asks, grinning.

She wills the floor to open up and swallow her whole like some sort of deadly pod. She hadn’t meant to reveal her latest hobby, least of all to her ex-boyfriend. “Erm, um. I, um….” she stutters before taking a large gulp of her gin and tonic to drown out her distress.

“It’s cool, I just wouldn’t have expected that you’d be playing. I am too,” he admits, likely sensing her embarrassment.

“Really?” she asks in relief. “What level are you on?”

“Sixteen… what about you?” he asks.

“I just got to twelve with everything I caught yesterday. I really like that it gets people out and exploring. Kids are reading maps again too,” she explains.

“Well that, and you love a good hunt,” he adds, his eyes gleaming.

“Cheers to that,” she raises her glass to his pint. Waiters clear their table, and once again they’re left alone.

“Cheers, Katniss,” he says and gets quiet for a moment. “You know….Seeing you today reminded me of the first time I saw you,” he starts.

“In ECOL 380?” she prompts.

“No, it was earlier than that. I’ve never told you this, but that wasn’t our first class together,” he says.

“What? You’re making that up!” she exclaims.

“No, true story. We were in the same BIO 101 lecture in Crane Hall freshman year. Do you remember?” he asks.

“Yeah, there were hundreds of students in that class,” she recalls, still stunned.

“There were, but all I saw was you. I knew I had three more years to get you to notice me and now I only have three days.”

“Oh, Peeta, you’ve always had my attention. There was never any competition. That was the problem. For a while there, you were all I was paying attention to and nothing else mattered. I was a graduating senior—we both were—and I wasn’t focused on my future.”

“I thought I was your future,” he says.

“You were. Until you weren’t anymore,” she says with finality.

“So that’s it then?” he sighs, sounding resigned.

“Yes, I think that’s best. You’re here. I’m there. We’re different people now than when we were together,” she says.

“So we’re gonna keep it professional?” he smirks.

“Yes, it’s only three days,” she adds.

“So would I have had a shot if this conference was a week?” he teases. “If so, I’m definitely adding that to my review comments. _Could have scored with an old flame if this was a longer conference_.”

She laughs and feels the flames of embarrassment lick across her cheeks, “Three days of this stuff is torture enough, don’t you think?”

“With you, Katniss, never. I’d take this moment and freeze it forever,” he says.

His words permeate her tough exterior, and she reminds herself of the deal they just made.

They fight over the bill and settle for splitting it down the middle. He offers to walk her back to hotel and hunt for Pokemon along the way. He assures her that he can catch the subway nearby and it’s not out of the way for his trek home.

She notices a slight limp in the few blocks between their restaurant and her hotel. ”Does your leg hurt?” she asks.

He gives her one of those smiles that’s been living in her past. The ones that seem so genuinely sweet with just the right touch of shyness. Nothing else ever seem to hurt like Peeta’s smile in her memory. She instinctively stands on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. Warmth blooms under her mouth, stinging her lips at the point of contact. A warning bell goes off in her head. _Run now, or be stuck in the same place as you were before_. “Goodnight,” she whispers before escaping the scene.

**Days 2** and **3** are on the horizon…. 


	2. Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do Katniss' instincts stay on track on the second conference day with Peeta in the row behind her?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own the Huger Games or Pokemon Go. I just put them together for three days because why not.
> 
> Thanks for Papofglencoe for always being on track with commas and great suggestions!

The next morning she selects the only skirt that she let Cinna pack in her suitcase. Even though she is keeping it professional with Peeta, there's no reason she can't still look good for herself, or so she reasons. She stalls in her hotel room, pacing between her river view and the bathroom, anxious to ride the elevator down to the lobby. Down to another day with Peeta in that frigid conference room.  _ In a skirt _ . A part of her hopes he notices. 

 

She slept horribly, replaying the goodnight kiss in her dreams. Sometimes it led to him following her back to her room for a night of never-ending sex, just like college. In other twists, she became separated from him in the darkness. She awoke murmuring his name, wanting to meet up at midnight. She shakes her head of these thoughts and braces herself for Day 2. 

 

She takes the same row and seat she had yesterday at a quarter hour until class starts. Thankfully, Cato Hackerman has moved to the other side of the room. She’s keeping herself occupied by shuffling and reordering her paperwork when  _ his _ voice floats through the air. A sound escapes her. The same combination of a gasp and groan that comes from being submerged in water, deprived of oxygen to the point of pain. Only she’s not in pain. Just pained to be so close to him for such a short few days. 

 

“Hey,” he says, dropping his bag on the table with a resounding thud. He has picked a closer seat this morning, just in the row behind her. 

 

“Hey,” she echoes, keeping it light. The whole class doesn't need to know they used to be together. Though she's not prepared for his grin when she finally shifts to look back up at him. She feels her features relax instinctively to his presence, even though she knows in her head that her guard should still be up.

 

He's close enough to be in her group for another activity that occurs in mid-morning. She doesn't turn all the way around to face him during the exercise so that she can attempt to focus on the material but it’s no use. He peppers the debate between choices and counter-argues nearly every one of her points. Even with her back mostly turned, he invades her thought process. She shifts in her chair to shoot him her scowl and he pipes down with a smug grin plastered across his face. 

 

Their activity group decides to go to lunch as a large party from the conference. This group is a lot livelier than the one from yesterday. There's two consultants from the same company based somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, Johanna and Blight. Johanna is dark-haired and a little older than her, dripping with sarcasm. Blight is not much, but seems to keep Johanna company.  There's another too, Finnick from the Gulf Coast. He's all smiles and oozing charm. The last is a kind woman named Cecelia from down south. Once everyone is situated at the lunch table, Peeta and Katniss wind up sitting alongside each other.

 

She dismisses the first few grazes of his hand as accidental. It makes total sense that they would bump into one another, napkins would drop, and then there's the inevitable need to reach into a bag. *He's probably not sliding against the slim lines of her skirt*.

 

She tries to follow the conversations circulating around the table, but she's more concentrated on his nearness, a certain hyper-awareness of his proximity. Cecelia talks about her three kids at home. Finnick boasts about fishing. Johanna only has caustic things to say about the class, and Blight grunts in agreement. Katniss keys into the chatting when it's Peeta’s turn to talk about himself and picks up a few details she had not collected last night. He's never been married. He's traveled far and wide for work and pleasure. He likes living here in the city, since it's such a difference from back home.

 

She clams up when it's her turn, talking only in short sentences about her sister and how she'll be trying to win projects back at work with the knowledge gained from the conference. She senses that Peeta seems much more at ease in this crowd, and she tries to be friendly. 

 

During the next group activity after lunch, she sits squared off with Peeta, face to face. She can study him openly now. She watches the knit of his brow and purse of his lips as he’s lost in deep concentration. It reminds her of the times he would sketch her and she would find herself a little fixated on his eyelashes. The light is all wrong in this dim room to capture their true shade, a light golden color, and long enough to nearly tangle when he blinks. 

 

She blinks a few more times and realizes that the group is looking at her. “What? Can you repeat the question?” she asks and blushes, having been caught spying.  

 

Peeta smiles and reads from a card, “In scenario 2, there is a near violation at a water crossing and a major violation outside of the wetland. What's the call?” 

 

“Um,“ she stumbles for the correct answer, squinting at the printed question. “That's a couple pages back.” She flips through the sheets of her binder until she lands on the page she's seeking. “Ah, yes. Non-compliance. The inspector would write them up even though it was a minor offense at the crossing,” she responds. 

 

“I think you're right,” Peeta says, and the group murmurs in agreement before moving on to the next scenario. 

 

She tries hard to focus and learn the answers, but her eyes keep flitting back to Peeta. Sometimes she catches him looking too.

 

After the group activity, her interest in seminar material wanes considerably, while his picks up with construction talk. She can sense his alertness behind her by the questions and discussions he raises with the instructors. Day 3 should be a continuation of construction topics, giving her mind plenty of room to wander. 

 

She replays yesterday evening over in her mind instead. He has stayed true to their agreement and is treating her like a colleague instead of former lover, innocent hand roaming aside today. She begins to reconsider this arrangement since class is out after tomorrow.  _ If a thrill runs through you each time the back of his hand slides against you, how would it feel to be taken by him again? _

 

They decide on more Pokémon hunting after class lets out at 5 pm, just to stretch their legs a bit, and then dinner. They come across a Pokéstop right outside the hotel, where someone has dropped a lure. It’s her favorite stop, since it's close by and located in a sidewalk art installation of dandelions in varying degrees of bloom. The dandelions remind her of her childhood, from the salads she would make with her mom, and of Peeta, from their class field trip where they met. 

 

She immediately zones in on a Pidgey to catch. “Ugh, what is this?” she says, furiously swiping at the screen on her phone. “Bag is full?” she reads from her screen. “Peeta, what does this mean? My bag is full?” Peeta steps closer and looks at her phone screen. Her senses are momentarily overwhelmed with a fresh wave of his unique scent. 

 

“Do you mind— can I see?” he asks. She nods wordlessly and hands over her phone, a little dumbstruck. When he furrows his brow at her phone, she realizes how much she’s missed that little look on his face. “Katniss, your bag is full of Pidgeys. You can't collect anything else until you transfer or evolve some of them,” he says.

 

“But they're my favorite! I don't want to turn them into something they're not!” she cries.

 

“Yeah, but that's the point of the game. To train them to fight. You also need to dump some of these potions, especially if you don't plan on going to any gyms,” he explains, handing her phone back to her. “You can evolve on this screen or click here to transfer them into Pidgey candy.” 

 

“Well, that seems wasteful,” she says, not wanting to throw away anything she's collected or mutate any of her Pidgeys.

 

He laughs, and she scowls. 

 

“No, it’s just—” he pauses. “It reminds me of the time you picked Mags, Beetee, and Wiress for our ECOL 380 class project.” 

 

“Well….they were the smartest students in the class!” 

 

“Yeah, because they were the oldest.” 

 

“And the wisest! And they did help us figure out the clues and find a way to solve the class project, didn’t they?” she says. 

 

“Yes, that’s true,” he admits. “You’re always finding the remarkable qualities in people...and Pokémon, so it seems.” 

Her phone vibrates in her hand, snapping her out of their discussion. “Oooooh, what's this?” she says, peering at her screen at a magnificent and ferocious bird, flapping its wings at her.

“Oh, that's a Pidgeot. You can evolve your 200 Pidgeys into Pidgeottos and Pidgeots all day long,” he says when she tilts the screen toward him.

“But to catch one, that's something, right?” she asks, staring up into his deep blue eyes.

“Well, I guess it is rare to find one in the wild. Go on, catch it,” he says with a wave of his wrist.

“I can't! My bag is full. Will you catch it for me, please? Pidgeys are my favorite, and this is the super Pidgey—from what you’re saying,” she pleads and grasps his arm with both hands. His bicep and forearm flex under her fingertips, his rolled up cotton sleeve a poor insulator for the electricity crackling between them.

“OK, you win,” he holds his hands up in defeat, but not letting her go. “I’ll catch the Pidegot for you.”

“But how will you know it's mine?” she asks.

“I'll name it ‘Katniss.’ It will live a very happy life with the other Pokeys,” he jokes.

 

“You're kidding— you can rename them?” she asks, looking on while he captures the rare Pokémon. She notes that he first throws out a Razz Berry to pacify the great bird and uses a Great Ball to catch the Pidgeot.

 

He taps out her name on his screen and shows her. “Do you want a screenshot too?” he jibes.

 

“Haha, no. That's plenty. Thank you, Peeta,” she says in honest appreciation. “All this hunting has me starving, let’s eat!”

 

“Sounds good, I picked out another restaurant out for you. This one is known for their lamb stew. That's still your favorite, right?” he asks, waiting for her reply.

 

Her stomach rumbles in reply and they head off to dinner.

 

Dinner conversation rolls back around to Pokémon Go, and she fishes her phone from her purse to start managing her items and Pokeys.

 

“I just don’t see the point. Why can’t I just have a bigger bag?” she says, exasperated. 

 

“Surely you know how to get the most from a hunt,” Peeta jokes and nudges her elbow with another disarming smile. 

 

The low lighting and dark corner booth do well to camouflage her blush. That's the tenth contact initiated by him (not that she’s counting). His touch evokes memories from their insatiable sex life. 

 

They couldn't get enough of one another back at school. After getting to know each other through the course of their first class, they started dating, which soon developed into a hunger for each other. They memorized the contours of each other's faces and bodies. She would take him in her mouth in the library, her kneeling actions hidden in  study carousels. His fingers always wound up inside her whenever they had a modicum of privacy, and sometimes not even then. Their Sundays were spent entirely in bed, finding new avenues to ecstasy. They discovered new favorite positions with each experiment, but she knew he loved most when she rode him because he could touch all parts of her from that angle. 

 

All of that sex led to a late period and turned her away from him, away from this relationship that had become her cornerstone of life. Katniss shut down after that and ended their relationship, hiding away from the rest of the world to focus on graduation and providing for her sister. 

 

The memories flood her vision, and she excuses herself to the restroom to splash water on her face, cooling her emotions down. She grips both sides of the sink, releasing an unsteady breath and taking a hard look at herself.  _ Are you lonely? Is your life somehow a little empty? Were you happier with him, before you ran? _   She digs around in herself, trying to register the answers. She finds only the honest desire to stay in Peeta’s arms again. 

  
She returns to their table with a new agenda in mind, because she’s tired of running from him. It’s only three days, and she’s already burned one night. 


	3. Day 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss has one more day with her ex-boyfriend...or does she?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy the conclusion to this little travel fic!
> 
> Thanks again to the fastest beta in the west, Papofglencoe! You're a rockstar lady! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own the Huger Games, Pokemon Go, or that Cotton ad. I just put them together for three days because why not.

She wakes up alone, with only the hint of cinnamon on the pillow next to her head and residual soreness between her legs. The note she finds brings her some comfort. He must have left it in the early morning hours when they finally slept. Once she makes it downstairs to the conference room, she moves to the row where he sat yesterday, next to the seat he will hopefully reclaim today on Day 3.

 

He gives her a sheepish smile as a greeting when he arrives, from lovers in the hours previous to near strangers again. “I still run on baker's hours,” he shrugs. “Couldn't show up today in yesterday's clothes anyway,” he adds. 

 

Her tired eyes pop open when she notices what he's wearing. It's the shirt she gave him on his birthday from their last spring semester together. Orange and green stripes woven together that would have been the fabric of their lives, had she not run away. She unravels at the thought, the memory so clear in her mind she turns warm and then ice cold.

“Hey, what's that scowl for? I kept the shirt, don’t you remember?” 

 

”Yes, you have a...remarkable memory,” she says. 

 

“I remember everything about you,” says Peeta, nudging her in the side. “You're the one who wasn't paying attention.” 

 

“I am now. I mean, I was then too. I’ve always paid attention to you,” she stammers. 

 

“Well, I don't have much competition here,” he says, tilting his head towards the rest of the classroom. 

 

She wants to draw the two of them away, to close the shutters again like last night. She knows she has to say it, for him to know. 

 

She swallows hard to push the words out. “You've never had any competition anywhere.” This time, she's tempted to lean in, and she almost does before the instructors call attention to the front of the classroom. 

 

Once they start their spiel, she flashes back to last night, to the kiss that brought on more until the hunger spread across her entire body. 

 

She had returned to the dinner table wanting nothing more than to get Peeta in her bed. It didn’t take much convincing when she let her actions speak for her.  _ Words were Peeta’s thing anyway _ . Their first kiss outside of the restaurant was better than the ones in her memory. The next few were a blur between the sidewalk and elevator, the same one she was so anxious to ride in the morning she couldn’t get to the twelfth floor fast enough for her. 

 

Peeta's hands were all over her. He ensured that their lips remained latched by cupping her jaw. Hooking his fingers in the waistband of her skirt, he palmed her ass and enticed her skirt hem to climb to great lengths. The elevator doors pinged open just before things became downright indecent. As they staggered to her room, she had to give wordless directions with her body for them to arrive at her door. Legs entwined, hair ruffled, and lips swollen. 

 

“You've been driving me crazy all day in this skirt,” he growled between nips at her neck when she shoved the card into the slot. 

 

She replied with her hips, grinding into the evidence he willingly confessed. Cinna would have to forgive her later for the ripped zipper. 

 

Once through the door, the rest of their clothes peeled away. In all of their time together in college, there was never an opportunity for hotel sex, which added a certain fervor to their motions now. He handled her tits with utmost precision and care, removing her bra to thumb her nipples and then suckle them to the point of delirium.

 

When she had a moment for a clear thought, she clawed at his belt buckle. His hands momentarily left her body to dig through his wallet, sagging in his rear pocket. 

 

“I have—,” he faltered when her hands wrapped around his cock. “I think I have a condom.”

 

“Good, I’m going to need it to fuck you,” she said, surprised by her own brazen language. 

 

“Damn, Katniss, c’mere,” he uttered, entreating her closer until they were clinging to one another in the remaining shreds of their underwear. She pushed him back on the bed and tried to retrieve the condom from his grasp. 

 

“No way, not yet,” he demanded, patting his chest. “Climb up here first.” 

 

She did, letting him bring her to the precipice and beyond with his silver tongue.

 

She slithered back down his body, which proved difficult feeling as boneless as she did. Golden condom square in hand, she gave his cock a firm grip and swiped at the bead forming at the tip with her tongue. 

 

“Katniss….” he growled. 

 

She ripped open the foil and rolled the latex down his shaft, pinching at the tip. She climbed on him to align the parts of their bodies yearning to reunite. 

 

The tip of his cock parted her folds, and she felt herself flutter around him as she descended. It felt so natural, so instinctual, so impossibly good that she knew she would not be the first to move.

 

His palms clamped down on her hips once he was fully seated within her, keeping them locked together. “I want to freeze this moment, right here, right now, and live in it forever,” he whispered.

 

The immense gravity of the moment weighed down on her. Neither one of them wanted this moment to end. His cock twitched within her and broke the trance between them. “Okay,” she said and began to rock over him. Their bodies remained fused, and he pivoted his hips to move with her.  _ Nice and slow. Easy does it, Katniss, you can do this.  _

 

He twitched again within her and began to ease out and in with shallow thrusts from underneath. His palms drifted from her hips to her waist, finally landing on her breasts.

 

She swirled her hips, grinding down on him as he pushed back up into her, her breasts pushing into his waiting palms with every heave of her chest. He pinned her nipples between his fingers, tethering them together at two points now, stretching and straining her body at the same time, pulling at both ends. Pulling tighter and tighter until her hips raced to match her heartbeat, lifting up and falling down on him as he pumped into her. A thousand moments surged through her. All the times this body, this heart, this soul, were her only refuge in the world. Perhaps never fully appreciated then, but so sweet now that they've reconnected. It overwhelmed her, and the taught string holding her together snapped, sending all of her muscles into spasms. 

 

He sped up his thrusts, plunging into her body as it clenched around him, gripping him until he fell apart with her. He caught her as she fell across him and scooted her to the side, allowing their bodies to rest. He stumbled out of bed to toss the condom out and quickly jumped back in bed with her. 

 

It was just warm enough in the room for their skin to stick together in a sweaty, blissful afterglow, and it certainly didn’t stop her from cuddling closer into his body. They laid in bed quietly until he started planting slow, sweet kisses along her spine. She turned to face him and was struck by how happy he looked. She began to return his kisses in earnest, building the renewed energy between them. 

 

“Katniss, I don’t have another condom,” he whispered between kisses, as if saying it loudly could somehow make the situation worse.  

 

She cursed herself mentally. She had a drawer full of condoms back at home, indicative of all the sex she wasn't having. But there she was, with the only dick she's ever wanted between her legs, and now there was a shortage. She was prescribed the pill to make her months more predictable, but she knew it wasn’t 100% preventative. She weighed her options, the old Katniss screaming at her about the risks, and she looked up at him. His eyes were glazed, pupils fat with the same want she felt in her soul. “You could pull out,” she suggested, nearly chewing through her lip. “Or I could, you know, finish you with my mouth,” she offered. 

 

“Fuck, Katniss,” he uttered as he drove into her without a barrier. 

 

She felt every delicious ridge of his cock as withdrew and then advanced back into her. She clung to him with her legs wrapped around his hips, snapping in unison. She hoped he had more willpower than her to wait to let go.  

 

He reached between them to rub at her clit in sync with his strokes.

 

“You feel so good, I'm not going to be able to last much longer,” he uttered. He shifted his angle and began stroking the spongy tissue within her—

Riotous laughter fills the room, snapping her out of her lust-filled haze. She blinks and looks around— even Peeta is smirking. She hasn’t heard a word of the joke, so she smiles and gives a little cough. Since she’s been daydreaming, she missed a topic or two. Thank goodness the instructors are reading the material from the slides printed in her binder so she can refer back later. 

 

As she tries to refocus on the slide projected on the screen, the tick of the clock is timed with his thrusts replaying in her memory. She closes her eyes and wills herself to concentrate. 

 

The instructors announce a final group activity to ensure that attendees understand material. She's caught just enough from the morning session to be able to respond correctly. 

 

After the conference dismisses, they spend the afternoon together, sightseeing and Pokémon hunting now that her bag isn't full.

 

“Ooooh, what’s this?” she asks as looks down at her phone screen. Dazzling bolts of electricity strike a towering spire. Atop the spire, sits a Flareon apparently under attack. 

 

“It's a gym. Have you ever been to one?” Peeta replies, peering over her shoulder and then checking at his own screen.

 

“No, I just hunt and collect items at the Pokéstops,” she says, looking back to her screen, scowling at how a tall spire with several rings could be a gym.  

 

“So you probably haven't picked a team them, huh?” he asks.

 

She shakes her head no, oddly transfixed by the lightning bolts. 

 

“Well, the red team, named Team Valor,” as Peeta explains, “is fighting the yellow team, named Team Instinct. Whoever wins will control the gym.” 

 

“What does it take to win?” she asks.

 

“Stamina and a high combat power. Having allies doesn't hurt either. Or all those potions for healing. But it's not just about winning— there's a certain prestige in riding the gym level too,” he explains.

 

“I see. Are you on a team?” she asks.

 

“Uh yeah, Team Mystic, the third team. It's blue,” he says.

 

“Ah, that matches your eyes,” she says with a smile. 

 

“Selfishly, I'd like you to join my team so we would never be opponents, but I see you as either Team Instinct or Team Valor,” he says.

 

“Really? Why? Does is make that much of a difference?” she asks.

 

“No, not really. Team Instinct relies on the trainer trusting the instincts of the Pokémon in battle. Team Valor is just….very passionate. So you would fit in with either,” he grins. 

 

They have dinner in the trendy downtown district, enjoying a few more hours in this peaceful bubble before she has to think about leaving or packing. Even still, her plane ticket home is ever-present on her mind, burning a hole in her satchel. She doesn't want to admit to him that he stayed rooted in her heart because that will make this real, and real frightens her. 

 

He's rambling about his coworkers while she weighs her options. She gazes across the table at him. Eyes bright, cheeks flushed, and lips quirked up in one corner, almost like he's reading her mind.

 

“So, in a way, my name being drawn in the office pool for who would attend this conference was a real piece of luck. The first I've had in a long time,” he pauses and grabs her hands on the table. “Let's not miss another opportunity. Please change your ticket and stay.”

 

“Peeta…..” she starts, already calculating the costs of re-booking her flight and extending Buttercup’s stay at the kennel. But in the end, she’d still have to leave. 

 

“Please stay ‘till Sunday. The odds weren't in our favor before, but we're here now, together. That should count for something, shouldn't it?” He cups her cheeks, giving her no other option but to see the raw emotion on his face. “I was selfish last night because I wanted to be with you again, but I never stopped loving you. Not after you crushed me and ran away, never.” 

 

She feels a lump in her throat, and her chest tightens, absorbing his admissions. 

 

“After you left, I tried to forget. Tried to move on. No one made a lasting impression, though. You made forgetting look easy,” he says and pauses for a deep breath. “It wasn’t for me. So I kept a place for you in my heart.”

 

It hurts her, stings even. To feel his pain through his words tinged with hope. “Peeta—”

 

“No, Katniss. I need you to hear me out. Just stay. Three more days.”

 

“Three days won't change anything—,” she interrupts.

 

“Don’t you see? It already has. So stay three more days. Three months. Three years. Forever. We can make it work here or there or start somewhere new,” he says. 

 

“So from what you’re saying, is that I could either go with my instinct to run again or my passion to stay?” she jokes, trying to bring levity to this heavy moment in the middle of dinner. 

 

His lips purse together, and it takes him a moment to collect his thoughts. “Well, that’s just it. I was hoping that your instinct would be to follow your passion, to stay here with me a little while longer so we can figure this out,” he says. 

  
And for the second time in the last twenty-four hours she says  _ Okay _ .

 

The End 


End file.
